Our high school students, at both Fairfield Senior High School and Fairfield Freshman School, follow a class schedule known as the “block” – four classes per day, each class 90 minutes long. We have used that schedule since the “new” high school opened 12 years ago.

This year we are taking another look at the block schedule, to see if it is still working for our students. Bill Miller, our secondary curriculum coordinator, is heading that effort, which involves a lot of research and a lot of listening, to our staff, students, parents and community. He’s giving an update to the school board at tonight’s meeting about how that work is going.

I know there may be a perception by some that the decision is already made. I can assure you that is not the case. We may ultimately decide to change to another schedule, but any decision to do that has not yet been discussed or reached.

The key advantages and disadvantages of the block schedule are well known. It allows students to get into a subject in much more depth during a single class. It means handling just four subjects at one time, instead of seven.

But it can also mean a gap in studies, with as much as a year off between math and language courses that build on the preceding course. That can mean a lot of time spent reviewing. Sometimes students end up taking college entrance exams or other tests when the material isn’t very fresh in their minds. The block works well for students who can maintain their attention and focus for 90 minutes, not so well for other students who struggle to do that.

Those pros and cons are well known. But there are other factors we are also looking at. What schedule will best allow students and teachers to build relationships? Learning happens more readily when those relationships are working. There is the study hall issue. How many students are in study hall because they couldn’t get a class they needed or wanted? Would a different schedule help reduce those numbers?

Part of reviewing the block schedule is looking at alternatives, and whether any would serve our students better. Some districts still use the traditional seven-bell class schedule. Others have gone to modified block schedules, mixing elements of different plans.

There are financial implications to different schedules, but virtually every decision we make, in any area of school administration, requires balancing costs and benefits. So that challenge is a daily – often hourly – part of the job.

We’ve been talking to our high school teachers about the block schedule. Today we offered all students in grades nine through 12 the opportunity to take a survey about it. This week we’re posting an online survey that parents and other interested people can use to offer input. We will listen to everyone, and consider every viewpoint, before any decision is made.   

Published in the Fairfield Echo, Nov. 19, 2009.